Friday, February 26, 2010

Her Cheery Outlook

I call this quilt "Her Cheery Outlook" in honor of my sister, Laura, and because I couldn't think of a more clever name!

Laura's birthday quilt, in process:


My sister Laura; she's a wonderful person who brings great joy to friends, family, and her students. She's very creative/crafty! Since her college days, she zealously protects her Ornament Therapy Weekend; a time when she and her college buddies gather and make crafts together for Christmas gifts, while enjoying food and libations and laughter and all that comes with longtime friendship. Sounds, wonderful, doesn't it? And every year, I love being the recipient of those OTW products! This year, a personalized wonderful calendar with photos and rubber stamping and family birthdays already marked, so awesome. Previous years include holiday aprons, accordion book with favorite family recipes, and embroidered felt Christmas tree ornaments, and many other treasures. And sometimes there's a Valentine's or Easter or birthday surprise, or something for no special reason. Lots o' love!

Laura just spent a year celebrating her birthday, number five-oh! And my newfound enjoyment of quilting easily found inspiration and aspiration to make Laura a birthday tribute. I didn't pull it together in time to stay inside that birthday year, but no one minds, right? I wish I could find the quilt online that inspired this one; it's a combination
of sophistication and quirkiness,
tradition and innovation, exuberance and order.

When we were teenagers, Laura's bedroom was decorated in pink and orange, in the 70s lazy daisy motif. These colors reminded me of our girlhood, plus I just love their joyfulness! This yellow I used for binding and in some quilt blocks has a smidge of gold ink; it's actually a Christmas fabric, a nod to all the Christmas presents Laura has made! Ellie-the-niece recognized this pink swirly fabric as a remnant from her Christmas present!

You can see the background is a few different whites, giving the quilt another depth of expression. I saw that idea in my inspiration quilt, and appreciate the freedom to not have everything matching and even. I'm also really happy with the stippled quilting, my second time free-motion quilting on my sewing machine.

2 comments:

Cathy said...

I love the quilt that you made! I think pink and orange looks so good together.

KarenB said...

This is beautiful! That is one of my favorite color combinations! I painted my oldest daughter's room hot pink when she was in high school and we accented it with a little orange. SO CUTE!